Today I’m sharing with you what I’ve been calling my “Pin-Up Work Out Routine”. For many years I struggled on a very severe level with body image issues. This past has made me tentative about working out, since I fear falling back into a state I care not to revisit. Additionally, many of the work outs illustrated in contemporary magazines and practiced in today’s gyms produce super trim bodies that I do not find attractive, and also would work against wearing vintage clothing. Let’s face it, the 1940s and 1950s encouraged a shapely figure for women, while today, it seems women encouraged to have no curves to speak of. This is why I found these pages so interesting and helpful. Not only do they keep me simply fit, but they would also support the figure that I desire.





These pages come from the same book that many other of my vintage beauty tips have come from, Ern and Bud Westmore’s Beauty, Glamour and Personality from 1947.
I enjoy doing the following exercises to fun and upbeat music, especially big band or numbers from the Brian Setzer Orchestra.
In addition to these pages, I also hula hoop. While I can’t do anything fancy, the traditional hula hooping is a great work out as well, burning 60-100 calories in just ten minutes time, while also increasing your back’s flexibility. I also enjoy it because you can read or watch television while hula hooping!
More from Beauty, Glamour and Personality
Introduction
Make-Up for Various Face Shapes
Hair Styling for Various Face Shapes
Posture
Looks like a great little varied routine – and I love all the accompanying pics!
So cute! I think I need to start a few of these myself…especially the double chin exercise-sigh.
These exercises–and the illustrations–are fantastic. I have attempted to hula hoop, but I’m AWFUL. Most of my exercise there comes from picking the hoop up off the floor!
Hooray for hula hooping! Keep it up – fun exercise is the best exercise!
Oh these look awesome. Thank you for posting these! I gotta say I understand being careful about exercise for fear of falling back into a bad state/or unhealthy habits. It took me getting pregnant and being unable to lose weight due to breastfeeding to get me to a truly healthy spot but I’m still weary of working out and certainly wont ever count calories.
I hope you continue on a good path in terms of health and body image!
Favorite part: “The shape, size, firmness & erectness of the breasts, also their relation to the size & contour of the body are all taken into account when a woman is appraised for her charm.”
Muahahaha, so good! I’ll think of this from now on, whenever someone calls me charming.
And these exercises are great! I’m glad you’ve found a routine that makes you feel great, instead of dragging you back into the dark. You’re gorgeous love, and you better embrace it!!
<3 <3 Sara
This is great! Thanks for sharing!
I also love that you hula hoop. I use to love hula hooping when I was a kid and I think I’d love to do it today too. 🙂
Body and self-confidence issues have shadowed me my whole life, starting very early on and never vanishing. Though I’ve made more peace with myself in this regard in recent years, I doubt these issues will ever completely disappear. I think you’re beautiful and that you have a terrific, thoroughly vintage clothing approved body, sweet gal, so whatever you’re doing, it’s definitely working for you!
♥ Jessica
Ooo, those exercises look like fun. My boyfriend and I have been doing a fair bit of pilates to try to get/stay in shape, and some of those exercises look pretty familiar! Some of them look fiendishly difficult, too. We count calories, too: I count to make sure I don’t eat too much, and he counts to make sure he eats ENOUGH!
I hear you on the body image issues… they’re rampant in my family. You seem to be doing well now, and you sure look fantastic.
Now, I wonder if those chest exercises will really help…
Most of these are yoga poses as well, which is becoming my tried & true fitness method. Better for slimming than cardio I’ve found.
Very good to know! I’m not all that familiar with yoga.
If I do any exercise other than walking my dogs I feel like I’m cheating on them, but fascinating stuff in any case.
Reblogged this on Teenage Vice and commented:
OK girls – Viva Las Vegas is on its way, so we thought we would give you a little kick-start. Reblogged from our good friend over at http://atomicredhead.com/ Enjoy!
I found your site through these pictures, pinned on Pinterest. And from there, I found a “Beauty, Glamour and Personality” online. This will totally help with a blog project I’m working on for 2017. Yay, Pinterest! 🙂
Hey, I’d like to try these out, but does the book say how many sets or repetitions to do of each exercise?
Hi! It’s actually very, VERY small at the bottom of the first page. It says to do ten of the exorcises of your choice, and rest and repeat. So I personally do twenty of each.